At least 15 students in Hong Kong are suspected to have died by suicide in the first five months of this year, according to the South China Morning Post's calculations, with the figure equivalent to about half of the total recorded in 2024.
Secretary for Education Christine Choi Yuk-lin is set to discuss student mental health and support measures at a Legislative Council panel meeting on Friday.
According to the Education Bureau's figures, primary and secondary schools reported 11 suspected suicide cases between January and April.
The South China Morning Post also counted four more cases in May after checking local media reports, bringing the tally up to at least 15 known incidents, or an average of three a month.
The bureau earlier said that a pattern observed over the past five years suggested the number of suicides was typically higher during the periods of May to July and September to November.
There were 28 student deaths by suicide in 2024, down from 32 in 2023. The figures for 2022 and 2021 were 25 each year.
The suicide rate for 15 to 24-year-olds in the city has increased from 6.2 deaths per 100,000 people to 12.2 in 2022, according to provisional data from the Hong Kong Jockey Club Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention at the University of Hong Kong (HKU).
According to the World Health Organization's mortality database, the post-pandemic suicide rate for those aged 15 to 24 in developed countries and regions ranged from five per 100,000 people to more than 16.
Japan, South Korea and the United States had the highest levels after the Covid-19 pandemic, with suicide rates as high as 16.8 per 100,000 people.
The lowest levels were recorded in France and Germany, which stood at about five people per 100,000.
In a paper tabled to Legco, the bureau said that different studies indicated the mental health of students was influenced by various factors, such as their genetics, thought patterns, personalities, family, peers, living environment, social healthcare and culture.
"With the rapid development and changes to society, students are facing increasingly complex challenges in the course of their development," it said, while calling on schools to be flexible in deploying resources according to students' needs.
"[Given] that school circumstances as well as students' learning and developmental needs vary, adopting a 'one-size-fits-all' approach in providing schools with uniform resources and manpower will not be able to address the individual differences effectively."
The bureau said that about 730 schools had taken part in the "4Rs Mental Health Charter" - which refers to rest, relaxation, relationships and resilience - as of mid-May.
Schools were also asked to set goals and organise activities to help students develop healthy living habits, create positive interpersonal relationships and enhance their resilience.
In December 2023, the government implemented a three-tier school-based emergency mechanism at all secondary schools.
The policy pooled together the schools' multidisciplinary teams, established an off-campus support network and offered medical services from the Hospital Authority to help identify and support students deemed to be at high risk of suicide.
Government data showed that 379 referrals were made to the authority's psychiatric specialist outpatient services for students deemed to be at high risk between December 2023 and January 2025.
According to the bureau's data analysis, half of the high-risk cases reported between 2020 and 2024 were male. It also noted that students aged 12 and above accounted for about 95% of the recorded cases.
Secondary students accounted for around 92% of the reported cases, while primary pupils made up the remainder.
A survey conducted by the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups earlier found that nearly 30% of local secondary school students had thought about harming or killing themselves during the current academic year.
Professor Paul Yip Siu-fai, head of HKU's Centre for Suicide Research, said the five-month case tally was high and expected the trend to continue.
"The number clearly is not an ideal one. It proves that what we have done to prevent students from killing themselves is not precisely targeted and cannot tackle the issue of students' mental health," he said.
Yip said that identifying high-risk cases was not the most effective way to address the problem.
"The most effective way is to let students feel they are loved and cared for in schools, and that they have someone to talk to when they need them," he said.